Lamp shade support assembly



p 1957 J. M. GOLDEN LAMP SHADE SUPPORT ASSEMBLY Filed July 26, 1954 IN VEIY TOR. JACQB M. GOLDEN LAB/1P HADE SUPPORT ASSEWLY Jacob M. Golden, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Universal Lamp Harp Corp.

Application July 26, 1954, Serial No. 445,829

1 Claim. (Cl. 240148) This invention relates to an adjustable lamp shade support assembly and more particularly to an assembly of the character adapted to be assembled and taken apart, and whereon a lamp shade may be supported for universal positional adjustment.

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide a lamp shade support assembly wherein a lamp shade may be supported upon the harp carried by a lamp base in such manner that it is capable of being universally swivelled, rocked or tilted, thereby permitting the lamp shade to be positionally adjusted whereby the illumination from the lamp may be directed at any desired angle or to any desired location without changing the position of the complete lamp.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a universally adjustable support for a lamp shade, which support is capable of being moved through an angle of substantially 90 degrees to thereby permit said supporting member and any finial element positioned thereon to be moved from a vertical to a horizontal position to thus occupy a minimum amount of space and also safeguard the finial element against breakage during packaging and shipment.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a lamp harp and supporting bracket therefor, capable of being readily assembled or separated from each other for packaging, storage or shipment wherein the harp and bracket are adapted to cooperate with each other to form a firm, secure and rigid lamp shade supporting assembly.

Another object of this invention is to provide a takeapart lamp shade harp which is adapted to be readily inserted and assembled with a harp supporting bracket carried by a lamp base.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a lamp shade support arrangement of the character indicated which is simple and economical to manufacture on a large scale and which may be readily assembled and disassembled and also permits the lamp shade supported thereon to be readily adjusted to any desired angular position and to be retained in that position against accidental movement or dislodgement.

Other and further objects, benefits and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the description thereof contained in the annexed drawings, specifications and claim or will otherwise become obvious. It will be understood that the invention herein disclosed may be employed for other purposes for which the parts, structure and arrangement are adapted.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates an elevational view of a fragment of a lamp base with a lamp shade supporting assembly secured thereon in accordance with the present invention; the various positions of adjustment of a lamp shade mounted thereon being indicated by broken lines,

I Figure 2 is a plan view of the harp head assembly showing the ball cage bracket arrangement,

Figure 3 is a cross-section of Figure 2,

atent Figure 4 is a vertical section of the harp supporting bracket showing a fragment of the lamp harp positioned thereon, and

Figure 5 is a cross-section of Figure 4 taken along line 5-5 thereof. 7

As shown in Figure 1, the lamp shade support assembly comprising the present invention, is employed in conjunction with a conventional form of lamp base which may be of any suitable form of configuration. The base 10 is provided with an electric illuminating lamp socket 11 supported by means of a suitable rod or tube, not shown, and an electric illuminating lamp 12 is positioned within said socket. The harp supporting bracket is designated generally by the numeral 13 and is formed with a horizontal collar portion 14 provided with a substantially centrally disposed perforation l5. Said collar 14 is interposed between the socket 11 and the lamp base 10. The collar portion 14 of the bracket 13 is firmly clamped between the lamp socket and the lamp base.

The harp supporting bracket 13 as heretofore indicated is formed with a collar portion 14 having a substantially centrally disposed perforation 15 through which the usual lamp base rod is passed. Extending from either side of collar portion 14 and formed integrally therewith are inclined side members 16 each of which terminates in a vertically extending socket 17, as may be more particularly seen in Figures 4 and 5. The upper end of each.

of said sockets 17 is provided with suitable external screw threads. Socket portions 17 of the harp supporting bracket 13 are adapted to receive the terminal ends of a lamp harp as will be more particularly described below.

The lamp shade harp comprising the present invention is designated generally by the numeral 18 and is substantially conventional in general configuration, being of an inverted U-shape as may be seen in Figure 1. The harp is formed of a suitable wire having a horizontal bight portion 19 from which the arms 20 and 21 depend. The horizontal bight portion 19 of the harp has secured thereto a ball cage bracket 22. Said ball cage bracket is provided with a horizontal cage portion 23 from which the bracket arms 24 depend. Said bracket arms 24 are provided with openings 25 within which the horizontal body portion or bight of the harp is received, and firmly and rigidly secured thereto as by clamping or otherwise forcing the metal of said bracket arm perforations 25 firmly against the horizontal body portion of the harp wire. The ball cage bracket is advantageously formed of sheet metal suitably pierced and bent to form depending bracket arms 24 and may also be formed with slits which communicate with said perforations 25 so as to permit the horizontal portion of the harp to be positioned within the said perforations; whereupon pressure is applied to the bracket arms tending to close said slits and thus firmly clamping the bracket in position upon the horizontal portion of the harp. The cage portion of the bracket is similarly advantageously formed by said single stamping operation on sheet metal so as to simultaneously form a substantially spherical receptacle within which a ball 26- is received. In forming the cage, the sheet material from which the bracket is formed is stamped so as to form a concave lower wall 27 and substantially vertically extending claws 28. A spherical member or ball 26 is then positioned within the concavity thus formed and the claws.

28 are then forced inwardly and toward the body of the ball so that the walls of the cage thus formed bear:

frictionally against the peripheral surface of the ball. It will be apparent that said ball is therefore firmly and positively retained within the cage thus formed and is capable of universal swivelling movement therein. The

ball 26 is provided with a vertically extending stud 29 having a shoulder portion 30 which is spaced from the ball portion. The reduced portion 31 of the stud is adapted to have positioned thereon the supporting collar of a lamp shade resting in abutment with said shoulder. Reduced extension 31 of the stud is formed with screw threads adapted to be engaged with complementary screw threads formed on a decorative finial which is thus adapted to-clamp the lamp shade collar'in position on the stud. It will be apparent from the foregoing, particularly from Figure 2 wherein the location and the spacing of the claws 28 are shown, that the ball and cage arrangement thus provided forms a universal joint and permits the universalswivelling movement and positioning of the stud and lamp shade supported thereon. It is desirable in packaging lamp assemblies of this character to reduce the amount of space occupied by'the lamp and thus reduce the size of the package as well as to facilitate the protection of the projecting decorative finial mounted thereon against breakage- In the instant arrangement this may be readily accomplished since the body of the stud 29 is so dimensioned as to be readily received in the space between the claws 28. The stud may thus be moved from a vertical to a substantially horizontal position through an angle of substantially 90 degrees wherein it rests against the horizontal portion of bracket 22, When the stud is so moved through said angle, the overall height of the lamp is thereby reduced and the finial positioned thereon, which is often of a fragile material, is less vulnerable to breakage by reason of said position and may be more readily additionally protected by packaging material.

As heretofore indicated the harp portion 18 of the lamp shade supporting assembly is formed of a suitably shaped wire and is provided with a horizontal bight portion 19 from which arms 20 and 21 depend. The central portion of the arms are bowed outwardly as shown at 32 so as toprovide convenient access'for the removal and replacement of an electric illuminating lamp in the socket provided for that purpose. It should be noted that the arms 20 and21 of the harp are of unequal length and that. the. lower terminal portion 34 ofarm 20 is longerthan the lower terminal portion 35 of arm 21; A projection 33 is provided adjacent'the terminal portions 34 and 35 of the arms, said projection being spaced from theends thereof. Said projections 33 are advantageously formed by compressing the body of the wire so that a protuberance is formed thereon which projects from the:

body thereof. The projections 33 are in line with eachother and equidistant from the bight portion of the harp.

An internally threaded collar nut'36 is positioned on-each of the arms of the harp, said collar nuts being adapted to be threadedly engaged with the external threads-formed on the end portions of sockets 17. The'collar nuts areeach formed with a perforation or restricted opening on the cap portions 37 thereof which permits the nuts to be readily moved along and rotated upon the body of the wire forming the harp but is of insuffici'ent diameter to permit said nuts to pass beyond said projections 33' on the terminal portions of the arms of the harp. It will now be seen that the terminal portions 34 and 35'of the harp arms may be readily inserted in sockets 17 of 'the harp supporting bracket 13. In view of the fact that said terminal portions of the arms are of unequal length, the

insertion of the arms into the sockets is greatly facilitated.

This is particularly important since the lower endsfof' the arms are normally formed so that the spacing therebetween-is greater than the spacing between'the sockets;

Inassembling the harp with the harp supporting bracket it is therefore necessary to compress the harp arms toward each other against theresilience thereof. By insert ing the longer terminal portion of one arm first, the terminal portion of the second arm may be more readily inserted into the other socket. The terminal portions of' the wire .are then resiliently urged. against the wallsof the socket and theharp is: thereby retained in position in a more-.firm and lsecurermanner. The-projections 331abut' with the upper ends of the sockets 17 and thereby assure that the harp is properly and symmetrically positioned with respect to the lamp base and that the longitudinal axis thereof is in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the lamp base; equal lengths of the harp arms projecting from each of the sockets.

When the terminal portions of the harp arms are thus inserted in the sockets, collar nuts 36 are screwed in position upon the sockets, the complementary threads engaging each other 'so that projections 33 are firmly clamped between the cap portions 37 of the collar nuts and the upper end surface of the sockets. The entire harp is thus firmly, securely and rigidly mounted upon the harp supporting bracket and the accidental disengagement or dislodgement therefrom is effectively prevented. By the same token if it is desired to remove the harp from the lamp base, the assembly may be readily taken apart by merely unscrewing thecollar nuts. Said collar nuts are prevented from slipping off the harp arms by means The entire assembly permits a lamp shade to be mounted upon the:harp,- which lamp shade may then'be swivelled to any desired angular position by reason of the universal joint formed by the ball and cage bracket arrangement.

The lamp shade is maintained at any desired position of angular adjustment by reason of the frictional engagement of the walls of the cage with the peripheral surface of th e ball. 7 p

I have here shown and described a preferred embodiment of myinventiom It will be apparent, however, that this invention is not limited to this embodiment and that many changes, additions and'modifications can be made in connection therewith without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as herein disclosed and hereinafter claimed.

Iclaim:

A lamp shade supporting assembly including a lamp harp, said lamp harp being of substantial inverted U'- shape having a pair of upwardly extending arms connected by a horizontalbight' portion, a ball cage bracket mountedupon said bight portion a spherical member received within said ball cage, said ball cage comprising a horizontal cage portion having-depending arms formed at' each' end thereof, means for securing said arms to said' bight portion whereby the horizontal ball cage portion of said bracket is maintained in spaced relation with respect to said bight portion, said'ball cage being formed" ing'a lamp shade having said'spherical member formed on one extremity thereof, said spherical member being received insaidconcavity and'said claw shaped elements being deflected towardsaid sphere and in frictional contacttherewith, whereby a universal swivel joint isformed between said bracket and said stud.

Kernodle Aug. 4, 1953 

